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Basic Premise (The Shoe Tree): Mulder and Scully, having wrapped up an
unnamed case, are left with half a day in Seattle before flying back home.
THE SHOE TREE
by Sneakers
<jhadden@willamette.edu>
The gunmetal gray sky was hidden from view by the many trees that
were scattered over the Seattle campus of the University of Washington. The
wind swirled the damp brown leaves on the ground, piling them ankle-deep
around Fox Mulder's legs. He kicked at them dismally. The weather matched
his mood perfectly.
Dana Scully looked up at the trees they were walking under. This
particular one had pairs of shoes swinging from the branches, laces tied
together. They blew around in the wind, making muffled thumps. "Look,
Mulder," she said, elbowing him in the ribs to get his attention.
He looked. Instead of noticing the shoes, for some reason he
focused on two people at the base of the tree, down a hill from the
sidewalk. A tall, well-build college boy and a girl, shorter and smaller,
both looking up at the tree. Even from above, he could see the apprehension
on the girl's face. He wondered what she was so scared about. As he watched,
the boy put his hand on the girl's shoulder and led her back inside the
building. "Did you see that?" Mulder asked, gesturing in the general
direction of the tree.
"See what?" asked Scully, still looking at the shoes.
"Down there." He pointed. "Well, they were there. She just
looked so . . . so nervous."
"Mulder, relax." Scully slowed her steps until she was behind
Mulder and reached up to rub his shoulders. He stopped walking and stood,
watching the shoes sway in the wind, while Scully tried to rub the tension
out of his shoulders. "Relax," she repeated. "She's probably just a new
student, not used to college yet."
"Scully, it's November."
"Next year's students, then. Mulder, you don't need to
investigate the *entire* world as an X-file. I would assume it's also
rather strange to look up and see fifty pairs of shoes floating above
you." No matter what she did, Scully had a feeling that Mulder wasn't
going to be comforted.
Mulder sighed and looked away from the tree. "I . . . I guess
you're right." He shrugged his shoulders out from under Scully's hands. It
somehow seemed too close, too comfortable. She shook her hands and stuck them
back in the pockets of her trenchcoat, wondering what the steady stream of
college students thought of them, standing in the middle of the sidewalk and
staring at something that had been there for years.
Mulder looked back at the tree and started to walk again. Scully
watched him, keeping up with him, wondering how hard it had been on him
to deny his constant searching for the paranormal and admit that she might be
right. Before she could say anything, music began blasting out of an open
window in the dormitory they were passing. Energetic 60's surf instrumental,
totally at odds with the gray Seattle drizzle they were walking in, and totally
offensive to Mulder's mood.
"So what was your bright idea to go see here at Grunge
University?" he grumbled, kicking at the leaves again. They were so deep
that they reached above his shoes, soggy, slimy fingers grasping at his
ankles. However, he figured Scully wouldn't appreciate this comparison,
so he kept it to himself. "Don't tell me you dragged me out of bed to see
a tree with shoestied to it."
Scully gave in and revealed her surprise. "While *you* were
sleeping, *I* was reading the newspaper."
"And?" This was hardly an unusual occurrence; Scully seemed to
keep up-to-date, no matter where they were.
"Well . . . there's a museum here . . ." Suddenly, it seemed so
pointless to Scully. What did a college museum have that Fox Mulder
didn't already know? "They . . . they're having an exhibit on unsolved
mysteries of the Pacific Northwest. Anyway . . it mentioned alien abductions,
things like that."
Mulder tried his best to be interested. All he really wanted to
do was go to sleep, or fly home, anything to get him off this dismal college
campus. "Yeah, Scully . . . sounds like fun."
Scully stopped walking, causing Mulder to almost crash into her.
"Mulder, listen to me!" Her voice was filled with worry. "*I'm* not the
psychologist, but there is something seriously wrong with you."
"Nothing's wrong with me."
"'Spooky' Mulder ignoring something alien? Mulder, you're not
acting normal."
"What's 'normal', then?"
"Interest in aliens, for one thing." Scully's voice rose up in
pitch and volume. Several students walking by gave her strange looks. She
didn't care. This was her partner, her other half, somebody she trusted with
her life. The entire population of Seattle, of Washington, could look at her
strangely if they wanted to. "We finished a case -- *you* solved it --
and now you're acting like you're about to commit suicide. There's something
wrong with that."
"I swear, I'm fine."
Scully looked backwards in exasperation. "All right, then. You
win. We'll go back to that tree until you figure out what's wrong with it."
She grabbed his nearest arm and began pulling him through the between-class
rush, back to the building the two people had gone into.
It took her three trips around the circular lobby to find the
basement stairs, Mulder following behind her, somewhat fearful of her new
burst of energy and resolution. The basement was just as circular and
confusing as the lobby. By the time they reached the door leading out
to the base of the tree he felt like Scully had dragged him a mile. He
had to smile for a second at the humor . . . it was probably the closest
he'd ever get to walking a mile in her shoes.
He stood at the bottom of the tree, staring up at it. The shoes
moved in circles, in squares, in random shapes with no apparent pattern. Dirty
running shoes. Tattered blue All-Stars. A pair of brown cowboy boots
tied together with twine. Extremely new-looking basketball shoes. Penny
loafers missing the soles. Even a pair of bright red high heels. Just shoes.
Maybe Scully was right. Maybe he did try to look for the paranormal in places
that things were definitely normal. Well, normal for college students.
For reasons he would never know, he looked up. The scared girl
was leaning out a window from the building across from him. Except she
didn't look scared any longer. A smile of extreme happiness spread across
her face as she leaned out even further, a pair of old cross-trainers, laces
tied together, held in her extended arms. As he watched, she flung them out
on the wind. They fell down over one of the branches of the tree, directly
in front of Mulder.
"Hey, Scully, did you see that?"
She looked up at where he was pointing, but the girl was gone.
Well, that was one of those things that would never be explained. One
of those X-files . . . he took a deep breath. "Hey, Scully, how about
them aliens?"
She rested her hand on his shoulder and led him back inside the
building.
THE END
Comments? <jhadden@willamette.edu>
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